Means for



March 15, 1932 E. E. ARNOLD 1,849,471

IEANS FOR JOINING SHEET MATERIAL Fired Nov. 21. 1929 Fey 1'. 92-

INVENTOR A'TToRNEY Patented Mar. 15, 1932 UNITED STATES PA EN F CE; f

EDWIN E. ARNOLD, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGN'OR T WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC -& MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENINSYLVANIAKE .MVEANS r011. oI I G SHEET MATERIAL Application filed November 21,1929. Serial K954087913.

My invention relates to' the ofjoining and fastening sheets of material and has par-.

ticular relation to a means for'joiningnonmetallic sheet material such as molded phenolio condensation products, or the like or fastening the sheets to otherobjects. It is well known in the art of joining sheets of material that the rivet holes weakenthe structure and that no matter how the rivetsand rivet 0 holes are located, the full efiiciency of the sheet in tension cannot be secured.

In addition, where the ordinaryand known methods of riveting are applied to sheet mate-- rial such as molding laminated material, difficulties are encountered and, therefore, I have devised a means for joining and fastening sheet material which obviates the difficulties of the prior art. X

An object of my invention, therefore, is to 29 furnish a means for joining and fastening sheet material such that the full efficiency of the sheet may be maintained at thejoint.

Another object of my invention is to provide a means for re-enforcin predetermined portions of sheets of laminated material.

Other objects of myinv'ention will become apparent from the following description of my fastening means taken in connection with the'drawings.

Referring to the drawings:v

Figure 1 is atop plan view of a sheet of materialwith my re-enforcing means disposed in the sheet. A portion of one covering layer has been drawn back in order to expose the re-enforcing means.

Figure 2 is an end view of the sheet shown in Fig. 1. I

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a joint between two molded sheets made according to one modification of my invention.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the sheets shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a top plan View of sheets of material joined in accordance with other embodiments of my invention, and

Fig. 6 is an end view of the sheets shown in Fig. 5.

With particular reference to Fig. 1, my reenforcing means is preferably comprised of v interlaced iron or steel wire 1 or the like. The

.wire may be of a resilientmaterial'such as resilient iron or'ste'el wire" in order-that the re-enforcedsheet will retain its formed shape, I

or may be amalleable material such, as soft iron wire which will assistin maintaining the sheet in any flat o-rcurved shape given it after molding. If desired, the reenforcing means may bea nonmetallic structure such as heavy cords of fibrous material.

The re e'n for cing means is particularly well FE adapted forfuse with moldedlaminated material andmay be inserted between sheets 2 and 3 alongv the edge of the sheet material as 1 shown in F 1g. 1 or d1Sp0S8d..1I1 strips or patches wherever it is desirable to re-enforee the sheet material; Then the sheet material is re-enforced and strengthenedin this manner, obviously its tensile strength isgreatly increased and, therefore, when sheets of material havlng myre enforcing means disposed thereiira're over-lapped and riveted,1as for instance, by means of a row of rivets ll (Flgs 5 and 6), the strength of the jointis as great as or greater than the tensile strength of the sheet material in its normal condition.

' If the sheet material is to be fastened to other objects they are locally re-enforced at the point where they arelto be fastenedand then be secured tothe object in" any de- 3 sired manner, asfor instanc'e by" nails or screws and'the sheeta't the point will be as r i s ren eri t an V th S t Witheiiteen c m t o Another means ofijoining or fastening the sheets of material'is provided by punching a series of openings '12't'hrough the over-lap ing sheets and stitching a bindingmatjerial 13, suchaswire, fibrous material, or the like, through the holes inlany of the well known methods. The drilling of the holes and stitching of the 'bindingmaterial may be accomplished in separate operations or; may be accomplished in one operation, such the ordinary operation of sewing.

-' Anothermethodof securingysheets-of-materialre-enforced by my re-enforcingmeaiis is shown in Fig, 3. )In this methodof securing, the-sheets 21 and. 22 are .bent back over oneanothe'riso that a doublejover-lapped or hooked joint 23 is secured and-the joint'may be fastened by riveting or sewing in the manner hereto described. In this case, the reenforcing utilized preferably should besoft metal wire adapted to be easily bent back uponitself in the manner shown.

My joining means is particularly well adapted for joining the sheets of molded ma terial which are to be utilized in cases where long continuous sheets aredesirable, such as for instance,'in covering. the wings ofaero-' planes or for use-as covering material in lighter-than-air aeronaut cal vehicles.

The locally re-enforced sheets may be utilized Whenever it is desirablewtn fasten the sheets to other objects, such as the fusilage or frame of an aeronauticalychicle or henit is de'sirabl'e to fasten objects to the sheets or in fact in any case. where openings must be made in the sheet which would ordinarily makevt he sheet/adjacent the opening weaker than the surrounding sheets. i

Although I have described specific embodiments of,my invention, itis apparent that modifications bemadebythose skilled in the ar.t. These modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofiny invention as set forth in the appended claims. I claim as my invention:

, 1. An article of manufacture comprising a sheet of laminated. material composed of layers of fibrous material bound together with a heat-hardenedrbinder, saidsheet having a reinforcing means molded in thema-rgin ofone or more of its edges, the remainder of the sheet being unreinforced, said reinforcing material serving as a strengthening material so that, whenlthe material is joined to another object by mechanical means, the

strength of the joint produced will be at leasteas great as the unreinforced sheet material in its normal condition. V

2. An article of "manufacture comprising a plurality. of sheets of laminated material composed of layers of fibrous material bound together wit-ha heat-hardened binder, each sheet of'laminated material having reinforcing means extending a short distance into its margin,, the remainder of the sheetsbeing' unreinforced, and mechanical fastening means for uniting said sheets together at the reinforced edges, said reinforcing means at the edge portions to be joined serving as'a strengtheningmeans so that the oint formed will have a mechanical strength at least as great as the unreinforced sheet material in its normal condition;

3. An articleof manufacture comprising ing the sheets together at the reinforced edges, the reinforcing means at the margins of the sheets serving to impart sufficient strength to the laminated material at the.

joint to compensate for the weakening caused by the mechanical uniting of the material so thatthe joint produced by unitingof the sheets will be at least as strong as the unreinforced sheet material in its normal condi- ..tion.

V4. An article of manufacture comprising plurality of sheets of laminated material composed of layers of'fibrous material bound together with a heat-hardened binder, each of said sheets having reinforcing means extending a short distance into; the margin of one orimore of its edges, the remalnder of said sheets being unreinforced, and means wire reinforcing means extending a short distance into the margin of one or more of its edges, the remainder of said sheets being unreinforced, and means for fasteningtwo or more of SQ-1d" sheets together at the rem- ,9

forced edges,'said means including a joint in which the margins of the sheets containing the reinforcing materialarein hooked, overlapping relationship with respect to each other, and mechanical fastening meansflp'assing through, the hooked overlapping structure. a a

In testimonywhereof, Ihavehereunto sub- 1 scribed my name this 18th day of.'l lovember,

ED IN ARNOLD? a plurality of sheets of laminated material composed of layers offibrous material bound together with a h-eat-hardene'dbinder, said sheets having a wire reinforcing"material extending a short distance into their margins, the remainder of the material being unreinforced, and mechanical means for unita 

